The Girl With the Silver Eyes
by L. D. Nicolescu
Summary: Leaving everything she knew behind, Kushina sets on a journey that will change who she was and turn her into the woman that died at the Kyuubis hands.
1. Chapter 1

**The Girl With the Silver Eyes: Preview**

* * *

"I know what you are!" She yelled, watching his sword stop abruptly. "I know what you are and I am that too!"

She flickered her eyes from his face to his sword rapidly, wondering if she should take this moment to try and escape, but at the same time holding herself down when she realized this was the perfect oportunity to strike a conversation. This might be the last time they cross paths alone.

"I know what you are!" She repeated, slightly pushing him away only to stop when he tightened his grip on her throat. "I'm Uzumaki Kushina. If you are who you say you are, you'll know why I want to talk to you."

Recognition light his eyes, only to mask them with confusing once again. It almost seemed like he wanted to let her go, like he was wondering what it was that she wanted to say, but the duty toward his village and the mission at hand left him at bay. Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe her informant had given her the wrong information on purpose. Maybe he really was trying to kill her. Yet she remained alive. If Bee really didn't trust her, he would have made a move to kill her a long time ago.

Even though in the Hidden Cloud it was a matter of pride to get a tailed beast implanted inside of you, something only a chosen few had had the privilege, it was also no secret that the eight tails had cause the destruction of Kumo more times than they wanted to admit. It was common knowledge that there was a Jinchuriki in the village, but no one knew exactly who it was. She was going on a hunch here. Kumo had always had a pattern for choosing its Jinchurikis, famous clan, young with large reserves of chakra and related to the Raikage family. Bee fit all three of such characteristics. Even if he was an orphan to begin with.

Eventually his grip on her loosened and his stand relaxed slightly. He was either really stupid or had good idea of what she was going to do next for he turned around and motion her to follow him.

* * *

He avoided her eyes. It seemed strange, since he didn't seem like the type to be shy. To her, he seemed to be just like her. Outspoken, impulsive, with a quick temper and a proud persona. Always smiling and acting that everything was fine on the outside so people wouldn't ask the real questions. Or maybe that just was _her_ excuse.

"What are you?" he asked, not really looking at her. "Which tailed beast?"

Kushina was a little taken back. No one had asked her such question. People just lost it after they discovered that she was a jinchuriki. They kept thinking that she'd loose her sanity and attack everyone else around her. Which had happened once before. _'But that was different.'_ She kept trying to reassure herself. _'That was because Sato died. And he's alive now.'_ Still, this whole trip revolved around a simple truth. Something she was going to find out before she lost control. She coldn't be sure that the next time that happen, her humanty would return.

"The nine tails." Kushina answered honestly, hoping that by that he'd do the same. "For over seven years now."

"Five years." Bee nodded, not looking as proud as others she'd met. "How long have you known?"

"About you?" she asked and received a nod in response. "It's no secret around here. Practically everyone knows."

He chuckled softly. "So frank." He glanced back at her, mirth in the edge of his mouth. "What are you here for? I doubt you traveled through patrolled ground just to tell me that."

Straight to the point. She hadn't been expecting that either.

"Are you always this eager to know things?" She counter back, searching her mind for all those questions she was eager to ask. There were just far too many she wasn't sure where to begin. She should have written them down. At least then she would have some kind of idea of where to begin.

"Only when pretty girls have the answers." He winked, giving her a small smile. That didn't surprise her. Ever since she had turned fourteen she had started to notice how boys looked at her. She had just never paid much attention.

"I'm looking for a way to control my tailed beast." Kushina said frankly. She couldn't know how much time they'd have together, why waste it with silly small talk.

The mirth on his face quickly melted. His eyebrows met and his edges of his mouth grew an unexpected tension she wasn't sure it was because of the straightforwardness of the statement. Maybe the tailed beast business wasn't as open subject here as they claimed it was. There was just something in the way he was looking at her that made her realized that not only had she taken him off guard, this was not something he wished to discuss any further. Even Kumo had their reservations about it. Who knew?

"That's impossible." He said quickly, repeating something she'd been hearing ever since she'd found out about the tailed beasts.

"There has to be!" She insisted, not wanting to give up on hope so soon. The previous two had said the same thing to her. "Why else would they put it in us if not to use us as a weapon?"

"To keep the balance in the villages, so no one village can threaten to attack the other with their tailed beast." Bee drilled something he most certainly had been hearing since birth. That was the exact same reason the Hokage had given her. The main reason for the first war was because Tsuna had threaten the other villages with their tailed beast. Implanting them in people prevented them from being stolen and used as a weapon. Or so she had thought. There must be a deeper reason behind her transfer to Konoha. If they just wanted to suppress and control the nine tails, they could've used someone from their own village, yet they went through the pains of choosing someone from her clan. Someone that had nothing to do with Konoha, no matter how good the relation between Uzushio and Konoha was.

"Then why did you go to extremes lengths on kidnapping jinchurikis from other villages?" Kushina asked, still not convinced about the excuse Kumo had fed Konoha years ago. "Why start a world war over it? If you simply wanted the tailed beast, you could have just killed the host and resurrect the tailed beasts. It's no secret they are hated among their people. No one would have blamed you for it."

"Killing the host gets the beast killed. What use are they to us if-"

"Oh," Kushina sighed, disappointment washing over her. One of her questions had finally been answered. "You don't know."

Bee was taken back. Women didn't normally talk to him like that. They usually went along with whatever it was that he was saying, having someone, a woman no less, contradict him in such a blatant way, was something he didn't know how to react to. He had always been treated as if he was right about everything. How do you argue with someone that disagress with you? "Don't know what?" he asked, curious by her statement.

"Never mind," Kushina waved her hand dismissively. "It's no use talking to someone who doesn't know what I'm talking about."

Before she could even stand from her sitting postion, he stood over her, his height intimidating her in a way. He narrowed his eyes, or so she thought for he was wearing glasses, and kneeled to her level, faces just inches away from each other. He didn't make any motion of attack but his body tensed and his voice deepened. "What do you know?"

Kushina crossed her arms over her chest, not budging on the least bit. He may be taller than her and had more muscle, but she was certain that if it come to speed and skill she would have the clear advantage. The previous fight had given her a fair amount of information on his fighting style and so far she wasn't impressed. If she really wanted to, she could just take him on and escape at the first oportunity that presented itself. But then again, she had come here for the express purpose of getting some answers, something he clearly was looking for too. She may know more about this than he did, but maybe he could confirm if the rumors were true. There was no harm in telling him what she knew. Or more like, what she thought she knew.

Taking her eyes off him, she focused her gaze on the dying fire, giving her face a shadow kind of look. "There has been these rumor going around that the fourth Mizukage, was killed a few years ago."

Bee furrowed his eyebrows, titling his head to the side. "That's not true." Bee quickly countered back, repeating something she had heard thousands of times before. "My squad saw him a few months ago in Honshu Island by the north sea. He was as alive as you and me are right now."

"Did you see him?"

Bee's eyebrows met. "No, but why would they lie about seeing the Mizukage? I know there has been rumors going around that the real Mizukage was killed and that he is being controlled by someone in the shadows, but that is just a rumor. If it were true, Kiri would have appointed a new one a long time ago. They can't afford to go by without a leader in this times of war."

"But that's the thing!" Kushina burst out, looking back at Bee. "No one, outside of Kiri's men has really seen him!"

"Didn't I just-"

"Did your team really see him?" Kushina interrupted, impatience ruining her good manners. "Did they saw him up-front like you are seeing me right now? Or did they just _think _they saw him?"

Bee looked at her from the corner of his eye, trying to decide what she was getting into with all these nonsense talk. He had better things to do with his time. The only reason he had remained here had been because of her information on tailed beast controlling; but then again, it could all be a big lie.

"What are you saying?" he questioned, not bothering to ask for a better explanation. "Are you saying that there's someone behind all this that is causing various people to see the same thing? A sort of genjutsu that can grasp even those hidden? There's no one among us that is powerful enough to make a collective genjutsu. Even among the Uchiha."

Nobu, the five tailed jinchuriki had told her the same thing, yet…

"_Even among his closest people, no one has seen him for over a year now." Kushina pondered looking out the sea._

_Nobu looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Isn't that natural? The village is in the middle of civil war with threats of invasion from the Hidden Cloud. It wouldn't be smart to just parade yourself around your country, even someone as strong as the Mizuakge." _

_That was true, yet…"There's been a rumor going around about his death. The fact that he won't show himself even to his closest friends is proof enough."_

"_He has to remain hidden so the enemies won't plot against him. If rumor is out that he is dead, there is less chance of an enemy attack on the village. In this times of war you can't even count on yourself."_

_That was true, yet Kushina couldn't get Shiro's, a fisherman from the Land of Swamps, words out of her head._

"_I've never seen it." Shiro had commented when she had asked about it. "But the locals swear upon it. They blame it for the lack of fish this season. Say it scares them away."_

_She turned to face the older man, seriousness in her voice. "I have a friend who claims he has seen the three tails roaming around a lake in the Land of Swamps. You know better than I do that there has been no one to have lived through the extraction of their tailed beast and lived to tell about it. Once it's done, you die."_

_Nobu looked down, eyes close. It was a strangly unguarded moment for someone who was supposed to be her enemy, yet it was that simple gesture that assured her that he had complete trust in her. Otherwise he would never let his guard down._

_When he spoke again it was with such assuredness Kushina wasn't sure he was still alive. "The jinchuriki before me lasted two Tsuchikage terms, something that had never been heard of before your Uzumaki ancestor. He was coming to the end of his life and was taken prisoner to extract the Bijuu from his body. Even as it was transplanted into a cell until a new jinchuriki was chosen, he cursed his captors to death, lasting only a few hours before Izanami came to take his soul. Rumor has it, even in his dying bed he swore to have come up with a way to control that which is uncontrollable."_

_Kushina frowned, not really understanding the meaning of his words. _

"_He was a perfect jinchuriki. He had found a way to tame the beast." Nobu looked back at sea. "The Fourth Mizukage tried that once and almost met death. It is something even I have longed for, but failed more times than I can count. If what you say is true, then we've been lied to from the very beginning."_

Even the shinobi amongst Kirigakure doubted the existence of their own leader. Still that had been more than six months ago, meaning that if the Mizukage had made a public, unnecessary appearance, it must mean that whomever is impersonating him wants to settle down all rumors about their leader's death. A public appearance amongst his own would go to long ways into shutting those rumors up. However, she could never rule out another possibility: there was someone out there that had taken the appearance of the previous Mizukage and was using it to cause turmoil in the islands by the sea. Someone that was apparently looking for something valuable enough to risk their own lives in such a mission. And someone skilled enough in the art of deceit that could fool even those who had elected the Mizukage in the first place.

"There has been strange behavior from Kirigakure these past few months." Kushina turned to Bee. "There has been a lot of movement among the Kiri controlled islands in the northern sea, a lot of shinobi had been deployed there."

"So?" Bee asked, not understanding what she was implying. "There's a war going on. It's natural for the land of water to double their defense when there is a possibility of invasion by Konoha."

"Konoha has no interest in deploying its men to the south. They are far more focused against their war with Iwagakure." Kushina frowned, trying to grasp the thoughts she wanted to voice. "But beyond simply defending their territory, which is still odd seeing as they are in the middle of a civil war, they shouldn't be able to spare no men. Unless they are looking for something."

Bee was intrigued by this. He raised his eyebrows. "And that is...what exactly?"

"I don't know yet." Kushina shook her head which cause Bee to grunt in frustration. "But my best guss is that is something they need, badly. Something that is so important that they'd be willing to spend precious men power to get it." _Something that could help them win the war._

Bee waited for her to elaborate, but when she didn't he asked. "And you think is their Mizukage? You think that someone has captured him and taken him hostage just like Suna claimed happened to theirs?"

"No." Kushina shook her head once again, this time getting strands of her hair on her face. She really should cut it off. That had been the plan all along anyways. Yet, for some reason, she could never get around it. Was it because of...No, she had far more important things to worry about. "I think they are looking for his tailed beast, the three tailed turtle."

"_Those who claim to have seen it grow mad." Shiro's eyes turned inward. He was no longer looking at her. "A monster so fearsome even the wind stands still."_

Bee looked far more confused than he had at the beginning of the conversation. It was only natural. She had been skeptical about it the first time Ryuuta had mentioned it, but that was because she didn't believe that the tailed beasts could be removed from the jinchurikis. Mito had made it so the key to the seal would die with her. Not even Kushina knew the combination to her own tailed beast seal. Yet she wondered if that was also true for the other jinchurikis.

"What kind of seal do you have?" Kushina asked, her eyes getting back to the real world.

"Steel Shell Seal."

Kushina grimaced. It wasn't the best kind of seal, but it would do, for now. "Do you have the key?"

"No." Bee narrowed his eyes again. "What are you trying to do? Fool, ya fool?"

She stood up, dusting some dirt off her pants. If what she was right, there was a big threat out there, and she needed to find it before it found her.

"Listen, you need to get your key and keep it with you at all times, ya hear me?" Kushina looked back at him, a very disturbed look in her eyes. "Or if you don't want it on you, come look for me. I will create a seal to keep it in you without anyone knowing. Whatever you do, do not give it to anyone else. You must keep it with you at all times."

"Why?" Bee asked, taking a few steps towards her, but Kushina just took some steps back. There was no time to waste. She needed to find out if the three tails was really roaming free. "What the fuck is going on?"

It was only her suspicion and yet there was more than enough evidence to back up her theory. She only needed the proof. "I believe that whomever is in control of Kirigakure has found a way to liberate the tailed beasts from their jinchuriki. Yet, the only way to extract a tailed beast from their confinement is to use the key of the seal. Whomever it is, has freed the three tailed beast from the fourth Mizukage, killing him in the process, but couldn't quite control the beast at the time, allowing it to escape free. That someone then took control of Kirigakure, impersonating the dead leader in ever single way. My guess is that he is using a genjutsu, yet he isn't powerful enough to keep it on at all times so he caused the civil war to distract it's people from the lack of involvement of village's leader in the world war. He is using Kiri's man power to look for the three tails, but that someone is clearly not satisfied with just the three tails. He or she or whatever it is, is looking for the other eight for some kind of power twisted plan. That someone is after _us_."

Bee opened his mouth to protest but Kushina cut him off.

"I know you said your team saw him a weeks ago and that they have no reason to lie to you, but I don't think they are lying about it. You can't know if something is not real until someone else points it out. There were under a genjutsu. Someone is using a genjutsu powerful enough to even fool those who aren't around. I don't know who it is at the moment but I'm going to find out." Kushina looked at the rising dawn and set her eyes back on Bee. "I know that you have no reason to trust me, but just for this once do. Let's meet back here in a weeks time and I'll explain everything that I've found out about Kiri. In the meantime keep yourself as far away for Kirigakure and its people as possible. If it was that easy for me to find you base on a rumor, imagine what they knew when they pool their intel on searching for you."

Bee looked at her for a long time. She was an odd girl. She trusted too much too soon. She was brash, and impulsive and...incredibly beautiful. She was far more different than anyone he had ever met. She was far more interesting than he cared to admit. And he was sure that the more he got to know her, the more he would come to like her.

"Why trust me of all people?" Bee asked, not satisfied with just following orders. "I'm sure you have trusted friends in which you'd prefer to confine in."

Kushina grimaced, looking away from him. Konoha seemed so far away then…"I did." She whispered, her gaze in a faraway place. "I do. But just not about this. If they'd find out I'm jinchuriki…I don't know how they'd react. You know how it is. They can swear you loyalty but not to the beast inside of you. And besides, they are in Konoha and they have ANBU teams looking for me. They think of me as a missing nin. There is just no way of returning. Not at the moment anyways."

Bee smiled sadly. "I understand." And he did. Even those he claimed to call family still kept a distance from him they thought was imperceptible. Even those he trusted most, feared him. "Fine. I'll try my best to gather information about Kiri from my village. Maybe my brother knows something. We'll meet back here in a week. Just try not to get killed. It's clear I'm not doing this for me."

Kushina coldn't help but laugh. It felt so good to finally share that weight she thought would crush her. It felt so good to finally have someone to trust, even if they were in opposite side in this. She flashed him a grin, making a peace sing with her fingers. "Don't die before we meet again."

"Not before you give me a kiss." He flashed her a cheeky smile.

And with those last words, they jumped onto the trees with very different directions on their minds.


	2. Chapter 2

**Whirlpool Destroyed**

* * *

_"__Some saw the sun  
Some saw the smoke  
Some heard the gun  
Some bent the bow…"_

_Atlas, Coldplay_

* * *

"Why are you so focused on the control of Tailed Beasts?" B asked her, throwing some wood to the fire. It seemed unwise to light a fire so deep into enemy territory, but Kushina had assured him that there was no way anyone would come near them. She didn't care to explain further, it was far too complicated to explain how one day she had woken up with the power to manipulate people around her with her chakra. Luckily he didn't seem like he wanted to pry anymore anyways. Their time was precious, there was no time for small talk. "Could it be that you want it for yourself? Do you wish to partake revenge on Konoha for making you something you despise?"

Kushina didn't take her eyes off the fire, yet she smiled sadly at comment. It wasn't that farfetched what he said. Hand, another jinchuriki she had bumped into not long ago, had asked her the same thing.

_"__And what do you plan on doing with that raw power?" Han asked, looking over at her from beneath his hat. "Are you going to destroy Konoha for making you what you are? A monster?"_

_She frowned at the mere thought to attacking the village that had turned into a second home. "Never!" she cried. The mere idea was enough to make her recoil. "I just don't want to lose control of myself once again."_

_"__Why not?" he asked. "Killing those who made you into a monster. They deserve it. This whole world is rotten anyways."_

Maybe he wasn't the only one that wanted revenge against those who made him.

"Are you asking me or you?" she asked, locking eyes with him.

B was taken back. He thought he was used to her sincere speaking. She didn't filter what she said, yet she always managed to hit a sore spot. It was amazing, he thought, how quickly and rightfully she came to know his deepest darkest secrets. "I could never destroy Kumo. It is my home. They are my blood. If it no longer existed there would no place for me to go."

Kushina's gaze dropped. Those last words hit something she still wasn't ready to face. The loss of a home. The loss of her identity. The loss of her own blood. And all because humanity was stupid enough to want a power that was far from their understanding.

"You don't know how lucky you are," Kushina mumbled sadly. She couldn't help but feel jealous at him. "With this war is gonna bring more than just deaths."

B looked confused. It was obvious he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Whirlpool was destroyed by the Six Tails." Kushina sighed, turning her gaze upwards. It never failed to amaze her to see so many stars the in the sky. As a child she had always believed there were only a few, seeing as she had never left the village and the lights contaminated the night. Yet the truth came all those years ago, when she had been forced to move to Konoha and had camped out in the wild. That had been the first time she saw the path of stars that painted the sky. It had been an inexplicable experience, having your beliefs shaken to the core with something as simple as that. "It was a little over a year ago, yet I can still remember the fate of the village once the chaos was over. What the Eight Tails has done to Kumo is nothing compared to what Whirlpool had to suffer." Broken buildings, paths of blood, the smell of death. She didn't know if the image would ever leave her. "Have you ever been? It's amazing, a year and it still seems as if it happened yesterday. There's still death in the air. _Its_ presence is still lingering. I don't want that to happen anymore."

B had heard the destruction of the powerful Eddie country, it had been on everyone's mouth at the time and with fair reason, there was no solid proof of what had caused it. Some said it had been Kirigakure's rebel army, others theorized that the opposing sides of Whirlpool finally faced one another taking the village with them in the process and some even accused Konoha of attacking when Whirlpool had refused to send troops to Kuzagakure's border as aid in the lingering Iwagakure/Konoha's war. There wasn't even a mention of a tailed beast.

"Nobody knows, obviously. The few survivors scattered around the world and made an unspoken promise not to tell of the real fate of my old country." Kushina's gaze fell down once again, locking on the ever changing fire. "It hadn't even been on Kiri's orders. They were actually trying to come up with a peace treaty for those islands in the south sea, and some of the higher ups had visited to negotiate the divison. Its former Jinchuuriki, Eigo, came with them as a guard. It was natural, I guess, so deep into enemy territory you can't just march yourself in and not expect to be attack so you take the best you have to offer to protect yourself. What we were expecting was the lost of control of the jinchuuriki. It had happened before, yet not it this magnitude. Before anyone even knew what was happening half the village was already dead. Chaos within seconds. Like an explosion, no warning. Many tried to seal it with no avail. Something that big and powerful is hard to control. You can't just paint a few seals and hope it will be tamed. You _can't_ control something that sinister. And before it was over, Eigo fell to the ground dead and the beast was left to roam around free."

B stayed silent, not knowing how to react to the tail.

"I don't want that to happen to me again." Kushina said mournfully. "I don't want to have the blood of innocents on my hands once more."

B frowned, not fully understanding the meaning of her words. His hoarse voice broke the silence. "Wait – _that_ – that take over, it has happened to you before? Has the beast taken possession of you?"

Kushina looked down at her left hand and stroke the overlapping circles that circled her wrist. Tatsu. That's what the seal was. A connection seal. "It happened over a year ago." She started, contemplating just how much her life had changed since then. "Someone special to me died. That awoke the beast. It wasn't a full takeover, but I was no longer in charge of my body. I don't remember much of that night, but now the lives of over a thousand men rest on my head. Over a thousand ghosts still haunt me to this day."

B opened his mouth only to close it once more. It was so unearthly, so out of this world, he couldn't even grasp his mind around it. "But that – that thing – that, it wasn't your fault! It was something that occurred because of the circumstances. You can't blame yourself over something you have no control over!"

It was true. And Kushina knew it. Yet this guilt in the pit of her stomach didn't end. "You say that, but you'll never know."


End file.
